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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I finally feel like I’m firing on all cylinders now.....


I hope I didn’t scare any of you out there with yesterday’s post though it is quite accurate. A moral imperative is something I selected it was not something pushed one me from some unknown force. These like all the other people like me are just my preferences based one my abilities. But the probabilities for success you say are very small – so why bother? Because not acting puts you and humanity in general in a bad place. And it’s not just me but it matters. From advertising I know that if a guy like me does not act, a pile of people like me all over the world will do the same and not act. I won’t get into all the explanations and theory as to why, just take it that it works this way and billion dollar industries are setup based on this fact. It’s just the way it is. Some deciding to go out there and try to make the world a better place means a pile of others are doing the same. I am also not doing this for personal gain or nefarious reasons so that means a pile of other people are out there with like interests doing the same. In going and competing for time and space at international venues to promote my ideas, means our fellow good natured people are doing the same. And by all of us competing for positions to promote new ideas, we as a group “raise the bar” of quality ideas and thus hold back or exclude bad ideas or nefarious ideas that may lead humanity down a bad path. Simply, If people of integrity and talent don't step up, those positions of power and influence will get filled by those with less talent and integrity - because those positions have to be filled - and that is not the best for humanity as a whole.


That is sort of the gist of it. Doing the right thing in my mind. Not going or applying to attend the UN big show in September was a mistake and I won’t make that one again. We will defiantly be back at the UN next year and again competing for space or influence. Doing that right thing. Doing the mandate of disseminating ideas of use and help for humanity as a whole. That does not make it a shoe-in that we will get time. But that means someone with better ideas edged us out and that is a good thing also. But I have to go back; I can’t chance that umbilical cord being cut yet. I have to keep pumping myself up – I have the “juice”. I was never bested in university. People would actually come up to me after class telling me I made such an such a profound statement or idea (their words “profound”) along with the others that would tell me someday someone would put me in my place (intellectually), which was jealousy I suppose but I never saw it as such. People would tell me I was intelligent to my face, and when I protested, they would just say I was intelligent and walk away before I could object. That was how it was back then, no one ever showed me there were better folk out there to push ideas, otherwise I would just leave it up to them. So you just keep pitching even though your creative days are over. I tried to do in my 20s what I am doing today and could not do it. So I do it for the kids and hopefully some other arrogant egg-heads will push some real real-time creativity onto the world’s stage!


Enough of that, I could go on for pages if I wanted.....



On Monday I got all the corporation’s figures for the tax statements ready. It is now just going to the printers and running off the forms I have to complete. I just want to finish this and be done with it. For Tuesday I may go on the roof and waterproof the chimney as it is getting dicey to do that these days. My car also needs a good wash and final wax for the winter. This could wait but what the hell. I now have burned two DVDs but have to review them before I place then in the ready to go file. That is your update today.


BTW: If anyone is interested in what music I am listening to right now, it is “Sweet Freedom” from the “Running Scared” album by Michael MacDonald. I always love it when they add some scat to the song. Usually the extended play version and slip the scat under the record label's nose that way as scat is not usually radio friendly – why I don’t know..... Scat for me is just uttering guttural sounds in music rather than words. I know I always challenge people to think about something they can’t put into words, so what of scat? Can an AI “truly” do scat? There is more to human mentality than we think and humans still have the edge over anything technological that my threaten us in the next few years. But we have to be open to expanding our minds and thought processes to do this. Since this influence is semi-political you have to play that edge of introducing new ideas and also not appearing to be loony – appealing to the humans – always those humans you have to deal with - Hehehehehe..... Ah yes – getting off on another tangent again. I just love some scat added into the song that is all.....



Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpZ3emzj_-U&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Right now I feel like a surfer.....




Jessica



That’s right – a surfer..... So much is going on now I am just surfing the crest and getting it done. First of all Jessica (Buttonz) calls me up about some of the DVDs not playing correctly, but she is using Playstation to view them so..... The chimney is fine so at least that part of home maintenance is done. I have to make a decision on Blackberry Enterprise because the Blackberry people are asking questions. They are out of the phone business but still in security and enterprise. Anyway The Don Brassuer show is encoding a QuickTime file as we speak and then DVD and that should make three so far. Don has passed on but I want him to go out and be remembered as a rock star. The problem is I asked Don how he wanted to be remembered and he said a “show guy”. So "Boots" Brasseur goes out as a Show Guy – Way to go Boots!

What else?

A quick lunch and I wash the car and wax it. We finally have one last gasp of warm weather it seems and so wash the car and wax it with the radio playing, just like it was the 1950! In other matters: One by one countries are signing up to eliminate the sale of gasoline powered cars by 2040 so cars as I know them have their days numbered. I pine over acceleration times and mods and the whole automotive world it going electric as we speak.


The car days, like my own dwindling days, are numbered.....


I got some ideas for the UN last night. The thing is it took me a couple of hours but the ideas came. What really bothers me is why it is only me coming up with them. Why is this so hard for the others? I can’t be a one man band around here for ideas. We need fresh meat, new blood, kids that challenge me and thump my face in the dirt intellectually so that I can hand off the orgs and know the future is in good hands. We are not there yet it seems. So we keep growing the organization and recruiting talent. I have to think years into the future and into a time when I am no longer relevant here.....




Goodnight.....





------------------------------------
------------------------------------


RIP GORD DOWNIE

You will be missed!
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the obit for Gord Downie is up.


http://iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=943


Shane posted it and we all start looking at it and correcting it. It’s supposed to be a group effort this fact-checking but always comes down to a couple of us. Anyway I don’t’ want to get too regimented in the procedures. Like first and last in the title capitalized and under four words not, etc..... You see from my own posts I throw the grammar book out the window and just write as I see fit. If the rules don’t’ work I just ignore them, maybe change them officially, I want to make the rules and not blindly obey them sort of thing. You grammar nazis out there take note. Blindly following rules has this carryover effect. Do you also blindly follow the painted lines on the road instead of just driving over hash marks and letting the flow of traffic continue, or do you angle you car right where the lines starts to curve blocking those behind you – because the line curves there? I always wonder about those people. Blindly obeying rules just because..... Keep doing that and the next thing you know you are pouring Zyklon B into concrete chambers and gassing people. How do you defend that? “Oh, someone told me to and he had a uniform." Ok – you with the uniform, why did you give that person the order? “I was told to by another guy with these special pieces of fabric on his uniform.” And on and on. You get the idea.




Gord Downie in 2001 (Photo: Wikimedia/Ryan Merkley)


Anyway the obit for Gord Downie is up. The band "The Tragically Hip" had success but did not flee to the States for fame and fortune as others did. Some of their songs had an advocacy message well before that topic became front page news. I am not going to defend Downie’s life, I don’t have to – just research the guy. So he gets an obituary at our organization. And it is not just a Canada thing. I welcome similar posts from members around the world at IAIJ. Even just cultural events, it’s all good!



In other news I want to print out some forms for the taxes and start of the fourth DVD. Check out the car for more paint chips and such. Things may seem to be dragging but it you look week to week month to month there is steady progress. Things will come to a head and get resolved.....




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a quick and early update for you guys......


Usually at this time I am off driving my car somewhere that includes Starbucks, but I am supposed to be weaning myself off that addiction now. Not only is it addictive with its hipster attitude and using your name and all, but the drink reeks of calories. Not that I ever had a problem there, but as my metabolism slows it gets harder and harder to get really thin again. You do eventually start to trim down even now but a vacation or big family get together with big family meals always set you back. And Starbucks never helps.


So today no Starbucks!


Today it is fix the KRACK WIFI exploit day! Microsoft – bless their hearts – has already issued a patch so all our Win10 and Win7 machines get the update today. iOS 11 Apple says makes the exploit difficult but I think they are still working on a complete fix – but that may get updated also. I don’t use my Note 3 anymore but expect a fix really late in the game for Android. Blackberry? Now there is an interesting question! Will they update the old BBOS10, I doubt it and this one really makes the decision on some things Blackberry for me. But we shall see. Anyway I suggest you all look into this and take corrective action pronto!


But all that is dreary stuff. I have to go to my father’s place and update the computers there also. Shit like this is more bothersome than you think. I also did not get the paper work for the taxes yet so maybe that happens today. I am now working on the fifth DVD – we are getting there.


So you all noticed nothing prattling about the car lately..... Well nothing much to report. I rust proofed the thing and waxed it. Today I will clean the wheels just to pass the time. No accidents or dents and crap like that that sours the new car experience. Though this car is now four months old. The problem with cars like Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and even the European/Japanese cars is that when you go performance or sports cars, you enter Man’s World and that is one regimented pissing contest. Everyone with a faster car pisses on those with slower cars. More expensive exotic cars pissing on the regular production cars. High end Corvette guys pissing on base model Corvette guys. But while I knew all this going in, this is infinitely preferable to being out of this realm. At least I bought myself back in there, and I am having fun, even if I am sort of at the bottom half of things. As a guy, I have to remember what car talk is like with people who aren’t into cars.


I remember when I was married my wife was talking to female family friends about getting a new car. So the conversation goes quickly to which car makes the most heat the fastest (as it was winter at the time). My 5.0 Mustang we drove then took forever to warm up and the enlarging group of gals figured out that the smaller the engine - the faster the heat came on. So the end result of all this research was to get a car with the smallest motor you can get to get that instant heat.


-----EXPLETIVE DELETED -----


Now this mattered to me as the wife was getting a new car. And no way was she getting put into some put-put car with no balls in the engine bay. That whole conversation between the women would be absolutely – positively – blasphemous of the highest order among performance car people! In all my years I have never heard any guy talk like that about cars. They never would, it would be too embarrassing; he would never live it down! The fact is most women just don’t “get it” about performance cars. But I could pick any 7 or 8 year old boy and take him to a car show or the drag strip and they would instantly “get it” and you really don’t have to explain to them all of what is going on – they pick it all up like a duck to water. If I took some old school hot rodder “nothing beats cubic inches” whose project car has some big chrome supercharger and air scoop on top a 7 litre motor and no hood, a real hot rod knuckle dragger – and plopped him in my seat during that conversation; there would only be two outcomes..... He either became a babbling idiot by the end of the night, or ran out of that room screaming at the top of his lungs! No guy like this could take it all night, so he would just tell them to shut up and that they didn’t know what they were talking about, when he couldn’t take it any more – and then run out of there screaming at the top of his lungs.....Hehehehehehe! Trust me that would not be too far from the truth, that guy would be completely out of his element!


Anyway, enough of this. I took the wife for a test drive in a Toyota Tercel on the highway as she had to commute and told her to mash the accelerator. She did and nothing happened – no acceleration as the car’s little engine was maxed out. Then I took her on a test drive with a Chevy Cavalier with a V6 motor and told her to hit the hammer and the car made aggressive engine noises and took off. Since she spends at least 2 hours a day on the highway you need that power to get out of situations – so the longer wait for heat is just something she agreed to live with.



Point made!




Later.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uLMgaLzqQE&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 10:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late start for Saturday.....




A top fuel dragster cockpit!


I spent Friday night updating the laptops and this went into three in the morning. Got up after nine o’clock and broke my promise and went to Starbucks and looked at some cars. I know this is getting old but I was introduced to this stuff as a kid during the heyday of the sixties and seventies muscle car era – an era that has sort of come back. Understand that this is a guy who went to drag races as a kid. I even had that white stuff in my hair from the fuel/exhaust they used in those days. We had two houses in Edmonton and the rental was this huge house across the street from the University of Alberta. Anyway one day we where there and a top fuel dragster was parked in front of the house. Still fuzzy memories but I got to look at the thing up close. I can’t even remember if I actually hopped into the cockpit or not, but I do remember that steering wheel. Sort of like two triangles attached to the steering column – just so hard and basic with that seat and all – just so cool! Anyway I was hooked from then on. It’s a guy thing and normally the owner of the dragster would come running out of the house with a baseball bat if he saw some guy getting too close. But boys are fine and he would even lift you up into the cockpit if you wanted - like passing on the baton or torch - start them off young. Even coming back from Starbucks this guy in a late model Dodge Challenger with a scat pack shaker hood comes right behind me at the light as I was turning. This guy totally outclassed my little car and he knew it. No good would come of this so I turned off to a Costco store rather than meet him squarely at the lights. Chances are with normal cars you would end up behind some guy at the lights. But when guys see two muscle cars coming up they will actually move out of the way to egg the cars on to race – Not for me this time..... Yes I know ladies, but this is man’s world..... After that this guy in a black Mustang 4.6 V8 GT was a little behind me. This could actually be a real horse race but he chickened out and took off down some side street. Well, I wanted this and even with the Challenger, at least you are on the radar scope, part of the game! But that is what happened coming back home from Starbucks. I told you guys about the shenanigans that happen on the road up north late at night. Like the guy in a Hyundai V6 Genesis that took a playful swipe at me and then took off down an off-ramp, waiting to see if I would play (and actually that matchup would have been a real horse race).


This is just part of being a guy. Guys have to show the kids how to be a guy. Like Thanksgiving Day Dinner. The brother in law had to take off to Germany on business and as soon as he left my sister gives his son the hipster man bun! I started to protest but she really gave me one of those “don’t even go there” looks so I guess dad and mom had an argument about it. I’m already in trouble if she reads this but at least I tried to spare the lad the indignity..... You get the idea; guys have to be guys even if they get into trouble. Even if cars end up being electric, there will still be hot rod electric cars – trust me on this.....


What else.....


Working on the DVDs all weekend long. This thing has to finish and I have to knock on the doors. Make the play, Make the Play, MAKE THE PLAY! Push, Push Push.....




Later.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlg3oQMze4&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A really late one today.


Basically seven of the eight are done and I should have been rendering and burning the seventh today. But – I messed up with the markers and the QuickTime file started with the black and bars and tone instead of the slate which is where they should start at. So I had to go back and now spend over five hours rendering another QuickTime file! It is what it is I guess.


The bottom line is that we are rapidly approaching knocking on the doors of broadcasters’ time. That will be a relief but is just the lull before we enter a new form of grief. But things are moving ahead. So while that file renders I want to finish the rust proofing on the car and other chores. Hopefully I can get seven of the eight as DVDs by tomorrow.


We shall see.....


Later.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the weekend was productive.....

I basically have finished the latest versions of all eight shows with number seven burning to DVD right now. That means all shows should be on DVD by Tuesday morning. I am already starting to look for the files for the series bible and cover letter and update those. Then comes that prime movement moment when I contact the first broadcaster this time and set things into motion.


Make the play!


You have to make the play. Nothing happens unless you get over your fears and make the play. People tell me they could never make those speeches at the UN and UNESCO as they would be too nervous. That part is easy for me. I lamented not getting up at the famous green marble lectern when the WSIS+10 recommendations were adopted in 2015. If I got the offer to speak up there – Hell Yes – I would be up there light as a feather. I was allowed to apply to speak and I did apply with no hesitation, but lucked out this time - but I went for it! That is just me, but this other stuff, taking the critiques and criticisms of your life experience and the other members who really are now more friends than members. Doing things the absolute best you could under the circumstances and exceeding all expectations – putting on a TV show on one of Canada’s top three networks all by yourself on free software – and still having crap thrown you way as if you could have done it better. Unreal! Like the SD/HD thing; we migrated to HD as fast as possible yet people would still wonder why we have SD in a 13 year odyssey that started with no HD available at all. So the early stuff has to be SD – Duh... And we did it all by ourselves from the start because nobody would ever OK this adventure at any broadcaster – but they still expect broadcast quality from the get-go. You have to be there and feel the thing to really know what I am talking about. And – I don’t blame any of my gang for staying away from this until there is interest. I am better equipped to handle the criticism as I was a salesman and businessman, but you really have to rally yourself up, fortify yourself for this promotion thing. But enough of that prattle. I have to finish the stuff up with regards to the series package and knock on those doors. This will be tough, no doubt about it. But what else can we do but try? So at least I now have clear direction. Our first broadcaster is set and known by all principle participants. Just make the play.....



I put a TV show on Channel "3" in 2005 with only this equipment!


I have some UN stuff to do as they are changing the way they work events there. So that happens now and we start planning things in that area again. I also want to clean up the house a bit more. The outside of the house gets maybe a walk around but with the chimney waterproofing out of the way everything else is elective. The car has so much goop on the underside there is not much else to cover so at least that part of car maintenance is done. Just doing chores and getting ready for that horror show in TV land.....


Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the DVDs are done!







I also found the original files for the TV series bible, the submission agreement and the cover letter.


So that phase of production is done. Now we move into promotion. We still have to review the DVDs but the changes if any will be minimal. Some updates to the printed material and we are good to go. I think a physical appearance and submission ready to go is the way for this one broadcaster. I’ll keep it low key with black jeans and a Nike shirt/Timberland jacket and the submission package and see what the receptionist says, if there is one. I might go away empty handed, but one step at a time. So you see my mind is already into the promotion stage.....


I am also finally going to print out the latest files for corporate taxation and finally finish that. Then I will celebrate with one last Starbucks – who am I kidding – and will tone those trips down. The car thing seems to have run its course. Now it’s just a car with maybe some fun on the weekends but I can see the TV and UN stuff coming to the fore-front from now on.



Later.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BTW: The TV series, the UN stuff, the music, books, video productions large and small and even the advertising company we run; are all about dissemination of ideas for the good of all. I don’t know anyone going at it as I engineered it or as gung ho, but it is something original.


Hubba - Hubba - Hubba.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUCj27eBnI&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wednesday is making copies of the shows for our production staff and taxes.



JL with the series poster!



More going through the motions stuff but folk need to see what the latest versions of the shows are. Shane was first off the mark so the first copies go to him. The latest have the mood music infused and the bugs worked out. I have to reiterate that these first attempts may go nowhere quick! So just be prepared for that. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, I see no reason not to go head first into real TV series promotion for air play from now on. We spent 13 years at it. The experiment is for all intents and purposes over with the side event last spring. Now the material truly gets old if we sit on it!


It does cross your mind, like what if I just waited a year or two later to start the experiment and did it all in HD. Well then you would not have this chronicle of the shift from analogue to digital. You probably would not have gone the music route as the end of traditional music industry would be in full swing (so no high-end Metalworks). You probably would not have started the newspaper as on-line was clearly the future. Why the push for a show on traditional terrestrial/cable and satellite TV when a few years later there was youtube? Why – because when the digital solutions made print, music and video editing a reality, we all still thought about it with distribution through traditional media portals. The idea was to get the word out through traditional broadcast like TV, radio and printed newspapers. There is a story there about this change and we are perfect examples. Heck, I would posit that if we waited two years we would have been late to the game and an “also ran” in the citizen journalist advocacy game. So those were the advantages but the disadvantages were cost in doing something’s more traditionally and the media changes in TV. So the shows have a mix of SD and HD because that is how it was back then. We technically went from Beta SP to HD (now 4K) in the experiment. That is about as much of a technical shift as you can get! But it is what it is and we have to get our adventure out there.



Series Bible!


So that is the plan for now. This will be hard and miserable, but we have to do it as per our mission statement from the start. Just like the hassle with Consultative Status at the United Nations, this is in many ways no different. Nothing good comes easy. You just have to keep at it.




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The pitch begins.....





We are rolling along with how we will pitch the series to broadcasters. This part can be hair raising but also fun! Our stuff is so unique that the typical rules don’t apply. And when the rules don’t apply – anything goes – everything goes..... You have nothing to lose as the current program for acceptance would never endorse you style of programming. You still have to abide by company policy, but I am taking about the grabber, the idea you plant in their minds to make them take a serious look at the material. From my short but successful career in sales (and later in advertising) I learned that just being meek does not get you the order. Sometimes you just have to cut to the chase, call a spade a spade, get aggressive and make them respect you and by association, the material you are there to promote.


You prepare your pitches from the elevator pitch and up. You prepare your presentation kit and most of all you prepare your on-site presentation. This was my failing in the past as I did not compel them positively to put our stuff on the air by usual persuasive means, but threats did work for both shows. A series is too big for this but when all else fails being aggressive can work; just different strokes for different folks.



As you can see my head is already into promotion.....



Thursday is giving out DVDs to my gang. First to Shane who will look at all for errors and technical faults. I also give out DVDs with members who have substantial parts in episodes and they get the revised DVDs so Michael and Dan get those today. Dave will get a full revised set shortly. But we go forward from now on. I have one Canadian and one US broadcaster already lined up. The US broadcaster is a “Hail Mary” play but I don’t want anymore “what if?” questions in my mind at the end of it all. I need to get the rejection and know for sure.



So that is the plan as of now. And I have to update the series website - My that is bad and the site has not been updated in ages.....but at least we have a dedicated website.


http://thefortressexperiment.com


Goodnight.....






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y4b-DEkIps&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 11:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Multi-tasking as always.....



I kind of thought about things; about life in general. Like how we seem to get what we always wanted, just not the way we wanted it.








Take for instance my dreams in business school. I wanted to be CEO and President (see: I did it backwards there – how original...Hehehehehehe.....) of a corporation or conglomerate as that was a big thing back in the 1970s and 1980s. Lo and Behold, I am President and CEO of a conglomerate of corporations that actually do big things! The problem is that they are mostly altruistic endeavours and not so much profit centered. In other words – no money! No big shot office and limo, no trophy wife and big house in Leaside..... So I got what I wanted – just not the way I wanted it!




Man-of-the-world: Presenting my own ideas at the United Nations!



Man-of-the-world: Back in the day it was man of the world and not person of the world – that was just the way it was back then; sort of like I was called the “N-Word” before “N-word” even existed. Sort of like all the army photos of Don Brasseur and the soldiers in the Photographic Unit of the Canadian Amy always having a cigarette in their hands or mouths in photos. I’m not going to Photoshop them out just because the times have changed. The times are what they are and good or bad that was how it was – anyway.....I digress. Yes I sort of got the Man-or-the-world vibe going on. Just not what I thought it would be. Funnily enough me walking up the steps of the United Nations is almost exactly how I envisioned it. But the fantasy had me going in there to save the world – rather than just prattle on about such and such as I do these days. Maybe some good comes from all the talk and maybe it just ends up being talk. So again; I got what I wanted, just not the way I wanted it!




So this is the car that met my sports car dreams!



The car business: I always lusted after a sports car back in my twenties. I wanted a true sports car with independent suspension, aluminum body panels (exotic stuff back before carbon fibre) and most importantly of all: That 150mph top speed! 150mph (240kmh) determined whether it was a sports car or not back then. That was the dream and the dream car. Fast forward today and when the Roadmaster bit the dust for the last time I had to buy a car. The original plan was to buy a Hyundai Elantra as all my extra money went to the orgs and I had to keep car expenses to the absolute minimum. But as you saw: I could not do it! I ended up in this frantic search for a car that could fill the bill of my former dream car. After all, how many new car purchases did I have left? It may have been now or never! This would – though- have to be the least expensive sports car I could find. And funnily enough the V6 Mustang fit the bill. I found one and checked the stats and it checked every box that needed to be checked including top speed and aluminum body panels (everything from the doors forward is aluminum and the car has independent rear suspension for the first time). Yes, the 2017 base V6 Mustang was ultimately the fulfilment of my sports car dreams as a young man; and not some Ferrari or Corvette. Who would have ever thought? So again: I got what I wanted – Just not the way I wanted it!



You get the drift by now. Dreaming dreams and fantasies you want to come true is like making a deal with the Devil. They give you what you want – just not the way you wanted it. If you can find happiness with the compromises life throws your way then you are on the road to a happier life than those who get a facsimile of their dreams and are left disillusioned and dissatisfied with their lives. We always lust after the superficial trappings of what we think will fulfil us, and sometimes if you can accept the compromises - you will self-actualize. Otherwise it is just another example of life cheating us. Life in general is a cheat; we all die in the end. To get more you have to beat the devil. And that is one hard play to make.....




Goodnight.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXXTMcYvKoE&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well Saturday started off good with me getting a half off deal on some plug-ins for my Avid editor.


So I spent the morning downloading the things and getting the plug-ins to work and all was well. The programs have to do with reverb removal and noise removal in audio. So it’s raining and I just chill a bit and I guess I fell asleep because its 3:00 in the afternoon! So five frigging hours disappeared from me and now I have to rush things to make it up.


The big thing is to start on the updates to all printed material for the show. I just want to start them. I also want to – at least – do some more work on the taxes. Catch up on the emails as that stuff never ends.


But I have to get moving as the day was gutted just like that. Well these things happen.....



Later.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 2:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a strange day..... I will break this into two parts with the first being the TV stuff and the second being a bit more about the car. I have moved on from the car stuff but after a dismal day where I slept through most of the afternoon – well I needed a drive bad.....



Part 1: The TV series.....



Kind of how I feel frantically finishing the presentation only to have it blow up in my face!


I fiddled around with the new audio plug-ins for my Avid editor and determined that they actually did do something but not enough to make me revisit the DVDs and re-edit. These would be for final audio edits prior to broadcast if we had to go it alone. So we are still on track with the current DVDs. This whole thing is kind of crazy in a way. I keep meeting members of the gang and telling them this thing is going down and all the while I realize that 13 years of effort and hassle and even last minute theatrics, will only result in having the broadcasters blow up everything we have accomplished! I am prepared for that more than the rest of my gang so the first meetings I go it alone. But it is funny how much effort I am putting into having my guts and heart emotionally ripped out from my soul as the prize for all that hard work! So I keep at it as the clock ticks down to that decisive first meeting with the designated broadcaster. We stay locked on target with laser focus and make the play.....


Part 2: So the car.....


It is funny how getting back into the car stuff, and for the first time driving a proper sports car, can get you back among the living after a comatose day. Take for example a memory fresh in my mind in another country and another time: You just pass some car fast without too much thought and the next thing you know you are in a duel on some desolate curvy back road out in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, you throw the car fast into this decreasing radius turn that even gets you close to your limits and the guy chickens out – finally! So you come up to this stop and turn right and out this side street is the car that was pestering you - and – another Porsche? Yes another Porsche and this one is one of the faster variants. He must know the area better than me and got back on the road I was on and just turned off another street. Sort of like a gear head’s touché. But whatever, that duel was over when he bailed and that was that..... Anyway I was thinking about this tonight when I drove to this 24hr Tim Hortons to decompress (from the quiet relaxing drive up north.....) and it got me thinking. First of all I decided in my mind that the best thing I ever did after the Roadmaster bit the dust was to have gotten this car. I get so much from this supposedly base Mustang compared to all the other cars that go for the same money. There is just so much upside to getting in on the absolute bottom of the sports car world. Sure you are at the bottom of the pecking order but when you out handle and out fear-factor the guys in the better and more expensive cars, they always give you your props (which is a form of surly respect – I can’t put it any better than that).


This car turns and pivots right under your ass. That is where the center of gravity is in this car. When the current model S550 Mustang platform was designed years ahead of production, the chassis (specific only to the Mustang, by the way) had to be designed around a particular drive train. Back then I can only imagine that it was a turbo V6. At that time it only made sense. Time proved the popularity of keeping the V8; but I am sure when the platform was started they had the V6 turbo in mind and designed the critical chassis dynamics around that. The car is just too balanced as is with under steer for the V8 and lift at high speed for the turbo 4. Put any V8 man behind the wheel of this car and all they do is fish the car from side to side and laugh! Which makes the discontinuation of the V6 more irascible. But more understandable why they dropped all the performance options for the car prior to killing it off (as the car probably tracked faster than the turbo or V8 and that would be too embarrassing prior to discontinuation). The car has its niche as an autocross car or slalom racer (the performance option on the previous generation for the V6 was called the “Mayhem Mustang” package, and with the independent rear suspension in the current car this would have been one killer option), but all this is after the fact; you can’t buy this car new anymore, but hey, I got mine! Sure all told I would have stayed with the V8, but in Canada it is just too expensive a jump to make any sense and this car turned out to be the cheapest of all sports cars being sold in Canada. So I am a happy camper, given the choices I had at the time.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfpe28mv9n0&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one today but it is very busy.


Sunday was productive with a first update of the entire series bible. I will give it another go focusing on the main characters and that should be it for that. Then I just review the cover of the pamphlet and make more updates. I had thought about just editing some of the pages but there are too many changes; so new pamphlets. Cover letter and submission agreement are there and being updated. I have six more DVD reviews to go through and we are good to submit!


While all that goes on I still have family responsibilities and article submissions to IAIJ. Some are quite good and I’m looking at one now. As the stories get better, so does that legal liability and other matters that cone with new articles that have some teeth to them. I have to look them over and if some of it goes too far I have to ask permission to edit out the stuff that could put the association in jeopardy. Then I either get the permission, or the article does not get published. Even if we are legally off the hook, things could get difficult for us to do the things we have to do. So the free speech guy finds himself in the unusual place of having to censor other journalist’s articles before publication. Of course there are other avenues of traditional and social media to go to besides us. But as CEO (still uncomfortable with that designation – but oddly enough I am comfortable with it at places like the UN where everyone has a title.....) of the association I have to see the big picture and protect the association and its mandate of advocacy for citizen journalists and bloggers at the international level. And I believe we are one of if not the only NGO specifically there to advocate for citizen journalists and bloggers – so that is the priority!


Anyway that is the sitrep today.....




Later.....
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